To date, the common means of securing a saddle or other load bearing attachment to a horse or other beast of burden is to utilize straps secured tightly around the animal usually placed just behind the animal's front legs and around the entire chest of the animal. These straps are made of leather or some strong fabric or other material and are secured and tightened using metal buckles or fittings of an appropriate type or some other form of fastening hardware. This requires the rider or some other horse handler to physically manipulate these straps and buckles to get them as tight as that person's strength allows. Many times that strength is not sufficient to the task and the saddle is so loose on the horse that it slides sideways putting the user in severe jeopardy of falling off the horse.
This problem is often exacerbated by the horse inhaling a large amount of air while being saddled to purposely prevent the saddle from being strapped on tight enough to be safe. After holding that air in until the saddle has been tightened, the horse exhales it and the saddle immediately gets much looser on its body. To further confound the problem, modern saddles are mere copies of saddle concepts that have been used for millenniums and are lacking in many aspects of rider comfort and safety. Studies show that between 60 to 85 percent of all injuries due to human contact with horses are due to the rider being ejected from the horse's back accidentally.
Yet another problem is the position on the horse's back which is taken by saddles made to the current, universally popular design. At the point on the horse's back where all saddles of the current design are positioned there is no physical prominence of the horse's anatomy that provides a positive bearing surface to anchor the saddle in a central, upright position. Therefore, many riders are injured and some even killed when the saddle they are riding on spins or rotates around the round midsection of the horse's body where almost all saddles are positioned when in use.